Keyword: zeronomics

Supply side economics invokes the most basic element of human nature: self-interest. We all seek to improve our material circumstances. The tinier the tax man’s bite, the greater is our incentive to produce. As tax burdens lighten, motivation heightens, sparking a robust economy. Allowing producers to enjoy their hard earned gains is both just and effective. Contrasted with demand side economics it’s a no-brainer. It is neither just nor effective to funnel public money to political favorites hoping they will spend lavishly and thus stimulate production. Paying people not to produce inspires little effort. Depriving producers of needed capital so...

WASHINGTON – One of President Barack Obama's economic advisers said Sunday that the economy is fundamentally sound, a striking reversal from the Democrat's campaign rhetoric as his administration now guides the nation's financial health amid dire conditions. Obama's Democratic allies pleaded for patience for an administration hitting the two-month mark this week, while Republicans said the White House's plans ignore small business and the immediate need to fix what ails the economy. During the fall campaign, Obama mercilessly mocked his Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain, for declaring, "The fundamentals of our economy are strong." Obama's team painted the veteran senator...

“I favored Obama over McCain because I thought Obama to be a middle-of-the-road Democrat, exactly the kind I have supported all my adult life.” - Jim Cramer, host of CNBC’s Mad Money A little over two years ago, then-Sen. Barack Obama stormed onto the American political landscape as a breath of fresh air in a tired partisan environment. Democrats vowed to oust a Republican Party led by an unpopular president, while Republicans scrambled to defend their quickly fading majority. Emerging behind the scenes was a new voice, a powerful and charismatic orator named Barack Obama. As the Democratic primary edged...

President Obama said Thursday the nation's economic woes are not as dire as they seem and said his economic policies will get the country back on track. "I don't think things are ever as good as they say, or ever as bad as they say," Obama told CEOs at a meeting of the Business Roundtable in Washington. "Things two years ago were not as good as we thought because there were a lot of underlying weaknesses in the economy," he said. "They're not as bad as we think they are now."

President Obama’s biofuel and oil policy is on a collision course to a national catastrophe. Yet, the alarms are not sounding and the red lights are not flashing. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu is not warning Obama that his oil policy will increase our dependence on foreign oil. Lisa Jackson, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Administration, is not alerting the President that his oil policy will increase carbon dioxide emissions. National Security Advisor James L. Jones is not cautioning the President that his biofuel and oil policy increases the US vulnerability to a Second Arab Oil Embargo. Christina Roner of...

This is something many of us predicted. All of a sudden Obama declares the economy is not as dire as feared. I just thought he would wait long enough to believably give credit to the stimulus bill. Confronting misgivings, even in his own party, President Barack Obama mounted a stout defense of his blueprint to overhaul the economy Thursday, declaring the national crisis is "not as bad as we think" and his plans will speed recovery. Challenged to provide encouragement as the nation's "confidence builder in chief," Obama said Americans shouldn't be whipsawed by bursts of either bad or good...

Confronting misgivings, even in his own party, President Barack Obama mounted a stout defense of his blueprint to overhaul the economy Thursday, declaring the national crisis is "not as bad as we think" and his plans will speed recovery. Challenged to provide encouragement as the nation's "confidence builder in chief," Obama said Americans shouldn't be whipsawed by bursts of either bad or good news and he was "highly optimistic" about the long term. The president's proposals for major health care, energy and education changes in the midst of economic hard times faced skepticism from both Democrats and Republicans on Capitol...

Just 27% of voters nationwide favor passage of a second economic stimulus package. The latest Rasmussen Reports nationwide telephone survey found that 55% are opposed and 19% are not sure. Despite the public opposition, 74% say it’s likely that Congress will try to pass another stimulus plan before the year is out. That figure includes 45% who say it’s Very Likely that Congress will do so. These results come at a time when consumer and investor confidence continue to hover around record lows. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday that she is open to consideration of a second stimulus bill,...

President Obama’s honeymoon is beginning to fade. Members of Congress and old political hands say he needs to show substantial progress reviving the economy soon. Some Democrats have started to worry that voters don’t and won’t understand the link between economic revival and Obama’s huge agenda, which includes saving the banking industry, ending home foreclosures, reforming healthcare and developing a national energy policy, among much else. While lawmakers debate controversial proposals contained in the new president’s debut budget — cutting farm subsidies, raising taxes on charitable contributions, etc. — there is a growing sense that time is running out faster...

President Barack Obama, sounding weary of criticism over federal earmarks, defended Congress' pet projects Wednesday as he signed an "imperfect" $410 billion measure with thousands of examples. But he said the spending does need tighter restraint and listed guidelines to do it. Obama, accused of hypocrisy by Republicans for embracing billions of dollars of earmarks in the legislation, said they can be useful and noted that he has promised to curb, not eliminate them. On another potentially controversial matter, the president also issued a "signing statement" with the bill...

President Obama’s honeymoon is beginning to fade. Members of Congress and old political hands say he needs to show substantial progress reviving the economy soon. Some Democrats have started to worry that voters don’t and won’t understand the link between economic revival and Obama’s huge agenda, which includes saving the banking industry, ending home foreclosures, reforming healthcare and developing a national energy policy, among much else. While lawmakers debate controversial proposals contained in the new president’s debut budget — cutting farm subsidies, raising taxes on charitable contributions, etc. — there is a growing sense that time is running out faster...

Barack Obama has written two famous, widely read books of autobiography -- "Dreams from My Father" and "The Audacity of Hope." Let me introduce his third, a book that will touch everyone's life: "A New Era of Responsibility: Renewing America's Promise. The President's Budget and Fiscal Preview" (Government Printing Office, 141 pages, $26; free on the Web). This is the U.S. budget for laymen, and it's a must read. Turn immediately to page 11. There sits a chart called Figure 9. This is the Rosetta Stone to the presidential mind of Barack Obama. Memorize Figure 9, and you will never...

The signs are becoming increasingly clear that Obama is in way over his head. Supporters tout the quick passage of the stimulus and omnibus, but those were practically inevitable given the large majorities enjoyed by the Democrats in Congress. Yet with the first fifty days of his presidency in the history books, his missteps far outweigh his achievements, and the early signs are that Obama and his team simply are not up to the job. Obama’s missteps are many. From the overabundance of withdrawn nominations for cabinet and other administration positions, to his complete and utter lack of decorum with...

Less than two months into this administration, three things are clear. First, its agenda is every bit as radical as many of us expected and feared. Based on President Barack Obama’s supposedly unimportant past, there was every reason to believe that this would happen. That some Obama supporters are surprised is a “tribute” to a media elite that treated decade-plus relationships with radicals Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers, and others as “distractions from the real issues,” and to a McCain campaign that refused to treat Obama’s candidacy as the threat that it was, and now is. Second, despite strong signals that...

AP: President Barack Obama signed the bill in private, unlike a number of recent signings that took place with fanfare, but he raised the issue of earmarks in public remarks playing down their scope and possible harm in the measure. They comprise about 1 percent of the spending package, which will keep the government running through September, he told reporters.

When it comes to global warming, the Gore Effect refers to the uncanny ability of global warmingist's to plan events and have the weather turn dreadful with massive snow storms occurring. We now have the Obama Effect whereby the markets will tank as soon as he opens his piehole about his plans for saving the economy. At 11:20, Obama made remarks to the media about the economy during a presser on earmark reform and guess what happened?

It seems like just yesterday that I was wondering if The One had miscalculated by expecting a bailout-weary public to support more than one gargantuan stimulus bill. Oh right — it was yesterday. Remember to emphasize confidence when you’re pitching this next one, Nancy. Just 27% of voters nationwide favor passage of a second economic stimulus package. The latest Rasmussen Reports nationwide telephone survey found that 55% are opposed and 19% are not sure. Despite the public opposition, 74% say it’s likely that Congress will try to pass another stimulus plan before the year is out. That figure includes 45%...

Isn't MSNBC the most off-the-hinges left wing whack job bastardized substitution for journalism in existence? Isn't it the home of the inventive and mostly imaginative and seldom true ramblings of Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann where venting against all things Christian or Conservative are demonized and the only acceptable form of worship IS Obama as Messiah? So how on earth will MSNBC explain that at 3pm EST on Wednesday, MSNBC web traffickers are FLUNKING "President Jebus" by 60%?

Obama, Geithner Get Low Grades From Economists By PHIL IZZO U.S. President Barack Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner received failing grades for their efforts to revive the economy from participants in the latest Wall Street Journal forecasting survey. Charts and Full Results Their assessment stands in stark contrast with Mr. Obama's popularity with the public, with a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC poll giving him a 60% approval rating. But a majority of the 49 economists polled is dissatisfied with the administration's economic policies. On average, they gave the president a mark of 59 out of 100, and although there...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lower tax revenue and massive government spending on the bank bailout pushed the federal deficit to $765 billion in the first five months of the budget year, well on its way to hitting the Obama administration's projection of a record annual imbalance of $1.75 trillion. The Treasury Department also said Wednesday that the February deficit reached $192.8 billion. That's a record for the month and up 10 percent from a year ago, but below analysts' expectations of $205.7 billion.

WASHINGTON -- Congress on Tuesday cleared for President Obama's signature a $410 billion measure to fund the government, a measure denounced by most Republicans as an example of reckless spending. The Senate approved the measure by voice after it cleared a key procedural hurdle by a 62-35 vote. Sixty votes were required to shut down debate. Obama will sign the measure Wednesday, the White House said, but he will also announce steps aimed at curbing lawmakers' penchant for pet projects. The $410 billion bill is chock-full of lawmakers' pet projects and significant increases in food aid for the poor, energy...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is sending President Barack Obama a massive bill funding domestic programs and awarding lawmakers their cherished pet projects after more than a week of partisan debate. Senators passed the measure by voice vote after voting 62-35 to shut down debate. The White House says Obama will sign the bill. It finishes up last year's budget business, which stalled as Democrats feuded with former President George W. Bush. The huge bill encountered unexpected difficulty in the wake of Obama's economic stimulus bill and a budget plan forecasting a $1.8 trillion deficit for the current budget year.

Making sense of the central political objective of organized labor.Whether the misleadingly named Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA)—known as “card check”—is introduced in the next hour or next year, it remains the central political objective of organized labor. It was also championed as a domestic priority by President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats during the 2008 campaign. The EFCA would undercut the idea of a secret ballot in unionization drives and guarantee mandatory arbitration of many initial collective bargaining agreements. Canada’s experience with card check illustrates how it could further hobble the U.S. economy.

Spending Bill Tests Obama’s CredibilityPosted by Mark Knoller March 4, 2009 2:11 PM (CBS)At an event this morning, President Obama again demanded that the government he now heads “turn the tide on an era of fiscal irresponsibility.” But his credibility on the issue is at risk if he goes ahead with plans to sign the $410 billion spending bill now making its way to final passage in Congress. The measure is rife with earmarks – special spending provisions attached by members of Congress, usually to benefit a home district project. There are 8,570 earmarks on this bill that if enacted...

President Obama has dispatched his best and brightest, unleashed hundreds of billion of stimulus money, used his political clout and soaring but pragmatic speeches without getting the economic engine restarted. When he took office on January 20, the Dow was at 9625, and it closed today at 6546, down 32 percent in the last 50 days.

Ladies and gentlemen, we proudly present Bush Derangement Syndrome taken to its ultimate extreme. President Obama has now blamed his socialist policies on the former President Bush. The background: a reporter asked Obama today if he was a socialist. Obama initially gave a flip answer but after thinking about it, later called reporters back from the Oval Office. “It was hard for me to believe that you were entirely serious about that socialist question,” the President stated. Then Obama said, ...

See! I keep telling you people Obama does not care about the economy; he cares about getting votes and enacting radical socialism. It's all falling into place! No jobs for Americans in the CRAPulus! Newsmax reports: An estimated 300,000 construction jobs paid for by the stimulus plan will go to illegal workers after leading Democrats removed a provision requiring verification of citizenship, a leading immigration expert tells Newsmax. The House version of the $787 billion stimulus bill required verification of the legal residency of anyone put to work by its spending. But that provision was removed from the bill before...

Obama supporter, campaign economic adviser and super-rich guy Warren Buffett says he is against 'card-check'; "Let's make it a perfectly flat statement" Buffet said on CNBC this morning. Just last week at a posh hotel in Miami Florida both President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden told the AFL-CIO that they were behind the 'card-check' bill, known officially as the Employee Free Choice Act. In July of last year, Obama touted Buffett as one of his "core economic advisors" in an interview with Tom Brokaw on NBC's Meet the Press. Card-check is legislation that makes it easier for employers...

If leadership is defined as recognizing a crisis, addressing its challenges, and setting new directions while remaining true to one's values, then Barack Obama is already demonstrating his strengths as a leader. He has inherited an economic crisis worse than any the nation has experienced since the Great Depression. Within fewer than 50 days in office he has signed a historic stimulus package to bolster demand and create 3.5 million jobs. Governors, business leaders and economists from both the left and the right have applauded the stimulus. Friday's distressing employment numbers indicate that much more may be needed.

In cubicles, factories and stores these days, anxious workers are trying to ease each other's economic fears with something akin to, "Well, at least we still have a job." Yet for many, that's becoming small comfort as more employers cut hours or hire only part-timers. People paid on commission, meanwhile, are suffering as sales dry up. And state workers around the country have been put on unpaid leaves. These workers aren't counted in the unemployment rate, which hit 8.1 percent in February. They're not eligible for federal benefits that provide a safety net for the jobless. Yet their pain is...

Booming preparedness industry says Americans are stockpiling To some, the term "survivalist" conjures images of camouflage-clad men stockpiling freeze-dried food in a mountain cabin, but in the current economic crisis, the people quietly preparing to survive catastrophe may just be your next-door neighbors. In his column in last month's Financial Times, business and technology expert Ade McCormack writes, "The world is in crisis and with it the world of business. Many of us have two plans. Plan A involves President Barack Obama performing some economic magic. Plan B involves a revolver, a vegetable patch and a subscription to Survivalist Monthly."...

Funding the good fight is getting harder. With more people out-of-work and less money to spend, this tough economy is forcing charities to take a hit. A new plan from the Obama Administration, aimed at evening out the playing field, could drastically reduce donations even further. The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation has a mission: to help kids deal with a serious disease. But funding the cause is getting a whole lot tougher. "It's very challenging right now," Katherine Cintron, of the JDRF's Westchester chapter, says. "You know, you keep plugging away – but it's bad." Cintron says many donors have...

One of Europe's solution to the perceived global warming threat is trying to regulate carbon emissions through Carbon Credits The way it works is the government sets a or cap on the total amount of a pollutant that can be emitted. Companies or other groups are issued emission permits and are required to hold an equivalent number of credits. Companies that need to increase their emission allowance must buy credits from those who pollute less. In effect, the buyer is paying a charge for polluting, while the seller is being rewarded for having reduced emissions by more than was needed....

The White House's top budget official declared on Sunday that "fundamentally, the economy is weak" while saying the administration's own financial predictions could need a revision by midyear. Peter Orszag, President Barack Obama's Office of Management and Budget director, said in television interviews that the economic downturn has been years in the making but cautioned that the new administration wasn't yet looking at a second economic stimulus package. Orszag said the already-in-place $787 billion stimulus should have a chance to work before officials ask Congress to consider a sequel.

The U.S. will press world leaders to boost emergency government spending to lift the global economy, risking a rift with European nations more concerned with revamping financial regulation. In President Barack Obama's first foray into economic diplomacy, Washington will urge the shift at a summit next month in London, U.S. officials say, as markets look for a unified plan of action from the world's most economically powerful nations. Washington's focus is at odds with France, Germany and other European nations that want the Group of 20 summit on April 2 to focus on rewriting rules governing financial markets. These nations...

If leadership is defined as recognizing a crisis, addressing its challenges, and setting new directions while remaining true to one's values, then Barack Obama is already demonstrating his strengths as a leader. He has inherited an economic crisis worse than any the nation has experienced since the Great Depression. Within fewer than 50 days in office he has signed a historic stimulus package to bolster demand and create 3.5 million jobs. Governors, business leaders and economists from both the left and the right have applauded the stimulus. Friday's distressing employment numbers indicate that much more may be needed. President Obama...

Stung by the apparent apostasy of a member of the main stream media, a testy President Barack Obama strenuously rejected the contention that he had broken his pledge that there would be no earmarks in his stimulus bill. The heretical charge of hypocrisy came from the formerly tingly-legged MSNBC pundit, Chris Matthews, after it was disclosed that there are over 8,000 earmarks in the recently passed stimulus bill. “Did anyone see me put any earmarks in the bill?” asked a visibly angry Obama. “No one can prove that I had anything to do with any of the earmarks that turned...

PITTSFIELD — The economic stimulus package that is designed to create jobs and transform the economy also contains several provisions to help small business owners, representatives of the U.S. Small Business Association said on Thursday. (VIDEO AT LINK) Robert Nelson, the state district director of the federal SBA, said the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that President Obama signed into law last week contains $730 million for his agency, and makes changes to the SBA's lending and investment programs so that they can reach small businesses that are in need of help. Nelson appeared with local and regional...

RUSH: Did you vote for this? There are people starting to have doubts. One of them is no less than Whoopi Goldberg, who went into a rant this morning on The View, talking to her co-host, Elisabeth Hasselbeck. GOLDBERG: You remember that movie Network? If you are just fed up, at some point, just lean out your window (laughter) and scream, "I'm mad as hell," 'cause that's what's happening to me. I'm losing my mind, because I don't understand why -- like they -- one of the things that I saw recently, they have this whole thing about taxing "the...

US President Barack Obama enjoys cocktail hours as a way to court lawmakers, but his budget may give fans of wine or bourbon a pounding headache -- and a withered wallet. With federal coffers thirsting for income, the tax and spending bill Obama decanted this week would repeal a cherished industry accounting provision and brew up an estimated 61 billion dollars in the process. At issue is "last-in, first-out," or LIFO, which allows companies to assume that the last goods they produce are the first to sell. The provision has the effect of reducing tax liabilities for firms with large...

Obama may have trouble keeping Democrats on his trackSome Democrats have qualms about his plans for spending and taxes -- and about his push to change so much so quickly. By Peter Nicholas March 8, 2009 Reporting from Washington -- President Obama is facing misgivings about his policy agenda from inside his own party, with prominent Democrats objecting to parts of his taxation and spending plans and questioning the White House push to do so much so fast. Obama's strategy is to advance on all fronts. Buoyed by favorable poll numbers, he is moving to jolt the economy with a...

Sen. John McCain said the Obama administration should've let General Motors fold, rather than keeping it on life support. General Motors should hand over the factory keys to a bankruptcy court, two top Republicans said Sunday. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said the best thing for the ailing automaker to do would be to go into Chapter 11 to reorganize some of its business agreements and come out stronger than before. "I think the best thing that could probably happen to General Motors, in my view, is they go into Chapter 11, they reorganize, they renegotiate ... the union-management contracts and...

"Profit's to Earnings Ratio" Posted by Bob Schultz at 3/5/2009 10:04 AM Categories: uncategorized Yesterday, President Obama stated, "Profit and earning ratios are starting to get to the point where buying stocks is a potentially good deal if you’ve got a long-term perspective on it,” The President was likely speaking to the "P/E" ratio which is used to measure companies against each other. But P/E ratio does not stand for "Profits" and "Earnings". It stands for "Price/Earnings". This is the measure by which a stock price is compared to the earnings per share of that same firm. Hence, a...

Barack Obama is a great pretender. He constantly says he's doing things that he isn't, and he relies on his powerful rhetoric to obscure the difference. He has made "responsibility" a personal theme, and the budget's cover line is "A New Era of Responsibility." He claims that the budget begins "making the tough choices necessary to restore fiscal discipline." It doesn't. If Obama were "responsible," he would be leading a candid conversation about government's size and role. Who deserves support and why? How big can government grow before higher taxes and deficits harm long-term economic growth? Although Obama claims to...

While you have your mind on your 401K, remember that Zero, or as some call him "Obummer", does not care about your 401K. Here is a quote from one of his typical speeches, taken from a story by Mark Stein: "Virtually every time Obama deviated from the text, he expressed the partisan anger that has so poisoned the Democratic party... At one, point when addressing what we have to do for the economy, Obama ad-libbed, "The insurance and the drug companies aren't going to give up their profits easily . . . Exxon Mobil made $11 billion this past quarter..."...

There was a time in recent American history when certain Soviet jokes didn't work in translation - not so much because of the language differences, but because of the lack of common sociopolitical context. But that is changing. As President Obama is preparing us for a great leap towards collectivism, I find myself recollecting forgotten political jokes I shared with comrades while living in the old country under Brezhnev, Andropov, and Gorbachev. One of my favorite political jokes is this: The six dialectical contradictions of socialism in the USSR: There is full employment - yet no one is working. No...

Some economists, lawmakers fear policies are sowing uncertainty WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama offered his domestic-policy proposals as a "break from a troubled past." But the economic outlook now is more troubled than it was even in January, despite Obama's bold rhetoric and commitment of more trillions of dollars. And while his personal popularity remains high, some economists and lawmakers are beginning to question whether Obama's agenda of increased government activism is helping, or hurting, by sowing uncertainty among businesses, investors and consumers that could prolong the recession. Although the administration likes to say it "inherited" the recession and trillion-dollar...